The SRO Show – Pretty in Pink

Still. . . Pretty in Pink

Produced by Lawrence Standifer Stevens

Written by Joseph E. Casanova

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Director John Hughes had a way of looking at our teen years with both a jaundiced eye and a sense of youthful wonder that, as older adults, we look back on with a feeling of bittersweet nostalgia.

Following the success of The Breakfast Club, late director John Hughes continued his look at teen angst with the release of 1986’s Pretty in Pink, named after an earlier hit by UK rockers the Psychedelic Furs.

For its 30th anniversary, select theaters around the country screened the “Brat Pack” film starring Molly Ringwald as Andie Walsh, who worked at an indie record shop owned by Designing Women’s, Annie Potts.

Like Hughes’ previous films, Pretty in Pink featured a soundtrack consisting primarily of new wave music.    

British pop duo Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark scored the album’s first hit with the #4 smash, If You Leave.    

Director Howard Deutch originally chose theme music, but Hughes influenced him to use post-punk music throughout the movie instead.

Eclectic singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega contributed Left of Center with Joe Jackson on piano while Australian group INXS added the bouncy, Do What You Do.

The collection was eventually listed as one of Rolling Stone’s Top 25 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time.    

One of the movie’s best moments is when Andie’s BFF, Duckie, (portrayed by Emmy winner Jon Cryer) sweeps through the store lip-synching Otis Redding’s immortal Try a Little Tenderness.

Despite Duckie’s best efforts, Andie’s heart belongs to popular, rich kid, Blaine, played by Andrew McCarthy who co-starred in St. Elmo’s Fire. Ringwald and McCarthy reunited for 1987’s romantic drama, Fresh Horses.

Blaine’s snooty best friend (The Blacklist’s James Spader) constantly reminds him how he’s dating outside his class.

No 80’s new wave soundtrack would be complete without tracks by Manchester synth pioneers New Order and the Smiths led by introspective frontman, Morrissey.

New Order’s Shellshock became a dance floor mainstay while the Smiths’ Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want still receives airplay on college radio.

As most teen romantic comedies end, girl gets boy at prom and best friend has a little fun of his own with two hot debutantes.

Thirty years later, it’s nice to know we can all still be…Pretty in Pink.